Three Short Films on Eccentric Spirituality

When: Wed., Aug. 8, 7:30 p.m. 2012

There’s a cringe-worthy scene in the 2011 documentary Page One where New York Times reporter David Carr lambasts Vice magazine co-founder Shane Smith for claiming that a documentary his hipster rag’s production company, Vice Films, made about Liberia exposed the impoverished country’s seedy underbelly more thoroughly than any Times correspondent ever had: “Just because you put on a fucking safari helmet and looked at some poop doesn’t give you the right to insult what we do,” Carr scolded. Still, it’s true that Vice’s intrepid documentarians are game to travel to many far-flung corners of the world to chronicle people and places that range from absurdly offbeat to downright terrifying. Three such films — one about a cult leader in a Siberian forest who believes in UFOs and claims to be the voice of God; another about dead criminals worshiped as saints in Caracas, Venezuela; and a third about the Aokigahara Forest, Japan’s most popular suicide destination — screen at the Humanist Hall (390 27th St., Oakland) on Wednesday, Aug. 8. 7:30 p.m. screening preceded by 6:30 p.m. potluck and followed by discussion, $5 donation. 510-681-8699 or HumanistHall.org